Widespread Voting Problems Discovered

Widespread Voting System Problems Found in the November Election
By Deborah Narrigan

In 17 counties across the state voters in the November election
encountered broken voting machines, difficulty figuring out how to vote on new
electronic machines, and long lines at the polls. Many voters also worried
that their vote was not going to be counted correctly by the paperless
voting machines that serve 93 of the state's 95 counties.


These findings are part of a report by a coalition of citizen election
reform groups that documents a wide variety of problems with all four of
the new electronic voting machine models purchased by the counties in 2006 to
update older voting systems. The equipment caused headaches also for at
least a few election administrators. In Knox County, a defect in the
circuitry in one of their eSlate machines caused it to smoke-and to
temporarily not register 2625 votes. Fortunately a local computer lab
fixed the problem and no votes were lost, but in the next election with this
equipment if this kind of hardware malfunction occurs, it might not be
possible to repair it, and votes would be lost.

The Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines are paperless
computers. They do not produce or use a paper ballot, so if electronic
votes are lost there are no ballots to count. The machines produce a paper tape
at the end of the voting day that is a tally of votes cast on that machine,
but voters cannot check that their electronic vote is tallied correctly by the
machine.

Using TN data from two national voter help hotlines, as well as their
organization's poll watchers commentary in Davidson and Williamson
Counties, the coalition's report describes over 60 complaints on Election Day as
well as problems during early voting. About half of the problems stemmed from
the electronic machines. Other problems included the "failsafe" process to
verify change of address that is hampered by insufficient phone lines in
many counties from precincts to election headquarters; poor signage for
polling places in large schools or malls, crowded polling places, polling
places not open on time, and a few reports of rude, overwhelmed, or
mis-informed poll workers.

The report does not analyze or evaluate voter reports, but does include
election administrators' views of the events from phone interviews held
with each county election administrator where voters reported problems. In
Madison County for example, a voter reported that some voters cast paper
ballots at one precinct because of machine problems. Kim Buckley,
administrator explained that the new equipment took longer to set up than
anticipated, then a voter punched the wrong button on one machine and it
"froze up" requiring a technician to come out to repair it. In the interim
until the equipment was repaired, voters used paper ballots. The state
election commission sanctioned voting on paper ballots only for this
specific problem, although several voters voiced frustration that they
could not simply choose to cast a paper ballot.

The report's findings suggest widespread, but fortunately, isolated voting
problems. The coalition would have preferred to do a thorough canvass, but
did not have resources. Without a statewide, systematic survey of voters'
experiences in all counties, the public-and election commissions--are left
in the dark about the extent of problems.

Fortunately state legislators also have heard about voting problems from
their constituents. Several bills have been introduced this session to
improve electronic voting, including mandating voter verifiable paper
ballots. Also a special joint legislative committee has been charged to
examinine how to increase voter confidence. As well, the TN Advisory on
Intergovernmental Relations ( TACIR) is conducting a year long study of
election and voting problems. Their interim report on electronic voting
equipment will be presented to the Senate State and Local Government
Committee, chaired by Senator Ketron, at their regularly scheduled meeting
April 18.